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Proximus is to deploy FTTH technology in Liege, as the operator’s 10-year fibre broadband investment programme expands beyond the five launch cities.

The company said it was taking advantage of ongoing works to the city’s tram network to deploy the technology and would also look to run fibre up the outside of buildings rather than dig up roads and pavements.

The first two unspecified sites selected by the operator are slated to get access to the tech by September next year.

A further 50 business sites and 12 industrial parks on the outskirts of Liège will be fully equipped by the end of 2018.

Proximus said it had already connected around 160 businesses in the city, and 70 percent of business parks in the wider Liege region.

“In the coming years, the entire City of Liege will be gradually equipped with optical fibre, allowing a large number of businesses and households to be connected to the fixed network of the future,” the company said in a statement.

The deployment will also boost Liege’s attempts to introduce smart city initiatives, after a so-called “e-desk”, which allows residents to carry out a number of administrative procedures remotely, was launched a couple of months ago.

Willy Demeyer, Mayor of Liege, said the city’s ultimate aim was to establish an almost entirely electronic administration.

Proximus CEO Dominique Leroy said: “In the coming months, the extraordinary power of optical fibre will help the City of Liège achieve its great ambitions with regard to digital services for its citizens and companies.”

Proximus is investing €3 billion over the next 10 years to cover 85 percent of businesses and over 50 percent of households in Belgium with fibre.

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